


Wanderlust

by formalizing



Series: Supernatural Tumblr Writing [24]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: (I mean kind of sort of on the incest kink--it's a character bleed thing), Character Bleed, Consensual Infidelity, Incest Kink, J2/Wincest, M/M, Road Trips, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/formalizing/pseuds/formalizing
Summary: Come hell or high water, they let those boys out to play at least once a year.
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Series: Supernatural Tumblr Writing [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/574168
Comments: 12
Kudos: 25





	Wanderlust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BaronSamedi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronSamedi/gifts).



> Listen, I wrote this for Myri and I after we had a chat about [that video of Jensen driving Baby around at the Family Business brewery](https://www.instagram.com/p/CGGWa4jpS-V/), but y’all can read it, too, if you also want some wish-fulfilment nonsense of J2 keeping the boys alive.
> 
> Originally posted [on Tumblr](https://all-these-formalities.tumblr.com/post/631509258300801024).

September 10th is sacred. Everyone knows it—friends, family, coworkers—no one tries to plan anything around that date. It’s marked off in red in both Jared and Jensen’s calendars, a repeating reminder every year from now until eternity.

How long they can get away for varies with how much breathing room they can force into their respective schedules. Sometimes they only get a day, sometimes a week when they’re lucky. One year, they got nearly a full two weeks, cruisin’ along the gulf coast and back.

It’s their standing date and come hell or high water, they let those boys out to play at least once a year.

Which car they take varies—Jensen’s has seen more miles, but only by a little. And no matter which one it is, Jared’s still shotgun for most of the trip. They’ve tried splitting the wheel time more evenly, but it just doesn’t feel right. So Jensen gets behind the wheel, and even if he drives her every now and then on his own—when he’s feeling stressed and unsure, missing the safety of a world that felt like _home_ , needing to feel 10’ tall and bulletproof for a while—it’s a whole different thing on September 10th.

There’s a confidence to his grip as he turns the keys, a gunmetal edge creeping into his grin as Baby purrs to life, and it’s just so easy to sink into it, to open up the door to the part of his heart that will always house Dean Winchester and let him take the wheel. Especially when Jared’s in the passenger seat letting his legs stretch out like he’s been riding in that seat his whole life, running a hand through his hair like it should be longer, smiling over at him with a little brother smile on his face that’s 100% Sam.

They leave at some ungodly hour of the morning, wearing the kind of flannel and denim attire that’s so familiar from hours spent in wardrobe, pouring coffee from a thermos. The headlights cut neatly through the early morning fog of September weather as they roar down near-empty highways, breaking the pre-dawn silence.

Dean’s cassette tape collection unfortunately didn’t come with the cars, and neither of them owns a single piece of technology that might allow them to record their own mix tapes just for the ride. So instead they set both of the cars up with Bluetooth converters so they can stream a playlist from their phones. They share a smile once they’ve got them installed, thinking of Dean fresh from hell and turning his nose up at an iPod jack.

The playlist is one they both have access to and the name changes as they add to it. At first, it was just called ‘Family Business’, filled with tried and true Supernatural cock rock classics, tunes they can blast at full volume with the windows down somewhere in the Midwest. Then some Sam songs found their way into the mix—moodier, a bit more subdued and meaningful, a few from the 90’s because Sam definitely lost himself in music when he was that lonely, angry teenager his dad couldn’t control and his brother couldn’t let go of—and it became ‘Driving Down Crazy Street Next to You’.

Now it’s called ‘I’m Proud of Us’, settling into a good mix of Winchester songs and Jared and Jensen songs. If anyone but them ever actually listened to it, the love song lyrics of so many of the songs would be only too obvious.

They’ve got sandwiches in a cooler in the back, and when they do stop for something a little heartier, it’s the kind of greasy, roadside crap they don’t usually eat—maintaining the unrealistic standard of beauty that keeps you gainfully employed in the entertainment industry doesn’t come easy if you eat like Dean Winchester.

They’re careful to keep to the small towns whenever possible—fill-up stations manned by some guy in his late 50’s who doesn’t give them more than a dismissive glance and maybe a mutter of ‘nice car’, diners just off the highway that see more truckers than TV stars.

Even the accommodations are as authentic as they can manage, shitty motels that they give a cursory glance at the Yelp reviews for and then hope for the best. They’ve found some amazing ones that way—like a retro place in Savannah that had fresh popcorn in the rental office and left individually-wrapped Moon Pies on the pillows at check-in—but they’ve also had their share of places with bedding that doesn’t look like it’s been updated since long before _Supernatural_ even started airing, air conditioning that won’t keep the room cool in the south or heating that won’t keep it warm when they’re further north.

They get rooms with two queens and only use one because it’s tradition.

Pressing each other back against unfamiliar beds, kisses heavy with the weight of two shared histories; it’s so easy to lose themselves in it.

Sometimes Jared breathes out ‘Dean’ instead of ‘Jensen’. Jensen catches himself calling him ‘Sammy’ more than a time or two. The lines get blurred when they’re this tangled up in each other.

When Jensen gives in fully to it, murmurs ‘c’mon, little brother’ in a voice more gravel-rough than his own, Jared gasps his name— _Dean’s_ name—and comes like a fucking freight train, Jensen not far behind.

No matter how long they have—one day, one week, even if they still had the better part of a year living in each others’ pockets the way they used to—it never seems like enough. The end always comes too soon.

The bleed is worse on the trip back. Jensen gets quiet with Dean’s frustration, fingers tight around the wheel, music on low. Jared’s unusually sullen, deep furrow between his brows as he spends most of the time looking out the window.

Almost inevitably, Jensen takes a hard turn down a dirt road to nowhere, parks them somewhere he’s pretty sure a Sheriff won’t turn up to tap on the glass and drags Jared to the back seat.

Whether it’s Jensen on his back against the leather, hands tangled in Jared’s hair and legs around his waist, or Jared with his knees spread over Jensen’s lap, pressed impossibly close, sharing each breath as he makes good use of the limited space they’ve got, it’s always exactly what they need. Just one more moment to hold onto outside of the sense of desperation, the never-forgotten clock of this time together ticking down moment by moment.

They’ve got it safely locked back down by the time they get back to Texas; they have to. Tucked kicking and screaming into the backs of their minds, the parts of their hearts aching and heavy from the weight of holding it.

But within the month—sometimes within the _day—_ there’ll be some new song in the playlist, a text message with a suggestion for next year’s destination.

And soon enough, it’ll be September again and they’ll be back in that car, rumbling down some new highway, sun shining through the windshield and the Winchesters shining through their smiles.


End file.
